坐井觀天

See also: 坐井观天

Chinese

		to sit; to take a seat; to take (a bus, aeroplane, etc.)	warn; well	to look at; to watch; to observe to look at; to watch; to observe; to behold; Taoist monastery	day; sky; heaven
trad. (坐井觀天)		坐	井	觀	天
simp. (坐井观天)		坐	井	观	天
Literally: “To sit in a well and look at the sky”.

Etymology

Related to 井底之蛙 (jǐngdǐzhīwā). Directly from

老子之小仁義，非毀之也，其見者小也。坐井而觀天，曰「天小」者，非天小也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
老子之小仁义，非毁之也，其见者小也。坐井而观天，曰「天小」者，非天小也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: c. early 9th century, Han Yu (韓愈),《原道》, translated into English as True Faith of a Confucianist by Herbert Allen Giles, 1922.

Lǎozǐ zhī xiǎo rényì, fēi huǐ zhī yě, qí jiàn zhě xiǎo yě. Zuò jǐng ér guān tiān, yuē “tiān xiǎo” zhě, fēi tiān xiǎo yě. [Pinyin]

Lao Tzŭ merely narrowed the scope of charity and duty; he did not attempt to do without them altogether. His view of them was the narrow view of a man sitting at the bottom of a well and inferring the size of the heavens from the small portion visible to himself.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zuòjǐngguāntiān

  (Zhuyin): ㄗㄨㄛˋ ㄐㄧㄥˇ ㄍㄨㄢ ㄊㄧㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zo⁶ zeng² gun¹ tin¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zuòjǐngguāntiān
    • Zhuyin: ㄗㄨㄛˋ ㄐㄧㄥˇ ㄍㄨㄢ ㄊㄧㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: zuòjǐngguantian
    • Wade–Giles: tso⁴-ching³-kuan¹-tʻien¹
    • Yale: dzwò-jǐng-gwān-tyān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tzuohjiingguantian
    • Palladius: цзоцзингуаньтянь (czoczinguanʹtjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡su̯ɔ⁵¹ t͡ɕiŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹ ku̯än⁵⁵ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: zo⁶ zeng² gun¹ tin¹
    • Yale: joh jéng gūn tīn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzo⁶ dzeng² gun¹ tin¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: zo⁶ zéng² gun¹ tin¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɔː²² t͡sɛːŋ³⁵ kuːn⁵⁵ tʰiːn⁵⁵/

Idiom

坐井觀天

1. ignorant of the world; to be living under a rock